Date

Country

Sites

Keywords

Region

Africa
Arab States
Asia and the Pacific
Europe and North America
Latin America and the Caribbean

New cooperation agreement signed between Belgian Science Policy Office and World Heritage Centre

Friday, 24 November 2006

On 21 November 2006, the Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Francesco Bandarin, signed a new cooperation agreement with Minister Marc Verwilghen, Belgian Minister for Science Policy. Under the agreement the Belgian Science Policy Office will, during a 5-year period, mobilize Belgian scientific expertise in using space technologies to assist State parties to the World Heritage Convention in acquiring the necessary capacity for managing World Heritage sites and in advanced technologies for restoration and rehabilitation techniques for cultural and natural sites.

This agreement follows a previous agreement signed in 2002. Under the previous agreement, a pilot project was implemented focusing on the use of space technologies to develop an operational cartography and monitoring system for the five natural World Heritage sites of the Democratic Republic of Congo, all of which are currently inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Under the new agreement, new pilot projects are planned focusing on developing a 3D temporal geographical information system for Calakmul in Mexico and working on the cartography of the main Andean route, Qhapaq Nan. The World Heritage Centre is cooperating closely with the Open Space Initiative of the Division on Ecological and Earth Sciences (SC/EES).